BUDAPEST

NB Sadly, this post is missing photos because there’s a problem with Blogger.com but at least you will get the summary of my time in Budapest. 

While Prague was a city of tourists, Budapest was full of its citizens celebrating being Hungarian. We happened to be there for National Foundation Day with red, white and green flags flying and a hugh patriotic fireworks display. 

We were even lucky enough to find the National Folk Federation craft and music fair in the Buda part of the city, with its castle and churches high up on a hill. Needless to say, I didn’t walk up but caught one of the cute little electric buses that wind their way through the narrow streets. 

Curiously, while the Czechs are the least religious people in Europe, of the people who bothered answering a census question about religion in Hungary, nearly half are Catholic and saints are important in the country’s history and culture. For example the first Hungarian King was St Stephen whose feast day is also Foundation Day on 20 August. As a good Catholic girl I grew up aware of St Elizabeth of Hungary because that’s my middle name but I didn’t know about poor little St Margaret, Elizabeth’s niece. She was ‘dedicated to God’ in the 13th century and sent at three years old to a convent as a result of a promise from father to God. She furiously resisted leaving the convent when dad wanted her to make a strategic marriage and in between time, ‘chastised’ herself with hairshirts, iron girdles and shoes spiked with nails which, not surprisingly, somewhat shorted her life!

She was sacrificed to the church in exchange for God “causing” invaders to retreat. Hungarian history, as told by each of Hungarian guides we met, is one of oppression and invasion and (mainly) failed uprisings and poor choices of allies. From reading Simon Sebag Montifiori’s ‘The World’, the Mongols were a particularly rapacious group and during their invasion of Hungary in 1241, they massacred 50% of the population. No wonder Margaret’s dad wanted to find a way to say thank you when they retreated the next year.

The next invading hordes were the Ottomans who kept Hungary as a vassal state for 150 years up to the end of the 17th Century. Curiously, although the rather impressive National Museum of Hungary has displays about the invasion and the eventual withdrawal of the Ottomans, there aren’t many Muslim artefacts. A not so subtle way of wiping out part of one’s unloved heritage rather like Trump’s plan for the Smithsonian. 

The next oppressors were the Hapsburgs and then poor old Hungary was in the wrong side of history during World War I, leading to the loss of 60% of their land and the creation of (unhappy) Hungarian speaking minorities in a range of countries. In their attempt to regain their lands, the country sided with Germany during WW2 and that wasn’t a good choice either! And then there were the Russians….

An endless story of misery. But that has to be true for so many of these middle European countries. But add to that a language that is unique and extremely hard to learn and you get an even deeper sense of oppression. Our charming Jordanian waiter on the first night, studying business administration in English, said that many of his fellow Hungarian students studied medicine and engineering in English as well because it was easier than doing it in Hungarian. 

Budapest is a bigger, bolder, brasher version of Prague. And our Airbnb apartment was bigger and bolder but not brasher than that in Prague. It was in a building built in 1895 in the Art Noveau/Secessionist style with a beautiful set of murals depicting the seasons at the top of the facade. Our apartment, on the 2nd floor, was huge with antique furniture and a grand piano. The apartment manager put us in touch with  (add name), a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, who gave us a private concert playing a range of music from the baroque to the work of little known 19th century Hungarian women composers. A truly unique experience. 

Other experiences weren’t necessarily unique but wonderful ways of experiencing the culture of a city included hours floating about in the 8 thermal and swimming pools in the Gellert Spa complex which opened in 1918 and exploring the 1897 Main Central Market in order to buy food for our cooking course where we (or rather Susan) made Chicken Paprische (ch spelling) and Dumplings. I, not surprisingly, avoided all attempts to make me cut up anything but was happy to eat this tender, traditional dish. 

At the markets, we also tried some traditional pickles and I confess that I have never tasted pickled plums or green tomatoes or mini-watermelon before. Another taste sensation was pear Palinka (ch sp), a local spirit. You can make it out of any fruit and each household can make 500 litres a year without paying any excise. It’s usually between 50 and 70% proof and you’re supposed to scull it without making a face because otherwise you’ll upset the maker. I’m afraid I didn’t meet that particular challenge. This lead our guide to provide the staggering statistic that 25% of Hungarians over 15 years old are alcoholics and 36% of men over 25 are alcoholics. As she pointed out, this makes it hard for employers to find decent workers and for women to find decent husbands.

As you probably know, Hungary has a right-wing government under Viktor Orban and some in the European Parliament say that it’s not longer really a democratic government. Orban supports Russia agains Ukraine, is anti-LGBTQI, and openly racist and Christian-nationalist. It’s all about the nuclear family. For example, if you have 3 children you get monetary support to buy a unit and get a discount when buying a car and if you have 4 children, mothers don’t have to pay tax. On the other hand, unemployment benefits have been reduced to force people back into the workforce. I found a wonderful description of Orban’s style of government:

“A kind of state neoliberalism brings about: a centaur state, “liberal at the top and paternalistic at the bottom, which presents radically different faces at the two ends of the social hierarchy: a comely and caring visage toward the middle and upper classes, and a fearsome and frowning mug toward the lower class”. https://feps-europe.eu/orbans-centaur-state/

Whether one was talking to older Catholics bought up under the communist regime or younger entrepreneurs, there’s still a sense of a country that wants to retain it’s uniqueness, to keep out strangers, to hang on to it’s language and traditions. One of those traditions is paprika. Sweet, hot, smoked, powdered, in a tube. When you go to the Central Market Hall, one of the largest in Europe and looking somewhat like those iron clad railway stations from the 19th century, every second store is selling paprika. For those of you who have never cooked with it, it’s a spice made from red peppers and is the dominant flavour in Hungarian cuisine. What I hadn’t realised is that it’s not from the region. It was introduced into Europe via Spain and Portugal from South America in the 16th century. And then it was introduced into Hungary while it was under Ottoman rule in 1569 and now the country is the major producer in Europe. Isn’t trade fascinating?

The best meal I had in Budapest, apart from Susan’s Chicken Papriska (ch sp) was the most tender Mangalican pork ribs served with a BBQ-style sauce. Delicious. And finally, on the Avalaon boat (more to follow in the next newsletter) I got to try a sweet that I enjoyed: Gerbeaud Cake  or Zserbó szelet, a layered cake with apricot and walnut filling with a chocolate glaze icing. The one thing I was disappointed not to try were some of the rather extraordinary strudels that you could find in the markets, another example of a food that moved into Hungarian cuisine through the influence of the Ottomans. 

Our last night in Budapest was in the Marriott Hotel for the start of our river cruise. We gave up our lovely appartment for fabulous views across the Danube, the river we’re going to be travelling on the for the next 10 days via Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Stay tuned for the next episode.